The present invention relates in general to auction based sales and procurement systems and methods, and more particularly to reverse auctions, wherein the auction is performed over a global computer network, and more particularly relates to the technical field involving the sale and procurement of aviation fuel and services to geographically dispersed aircraft operators by geographically dispersed providers.
General aviation (GA) is a category of civil aviation, both commercial and non-commercial, that refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline flights. GA covers a wide range of activities including private flying, flight training, air ambulance, law enforcement, firefighting, air charter, bush flying, gliding, and many others. GA includes all type of aircraft, from powered parachutes to helicopters and large jet aircraft. GA aircraft operators purchase fuel and ground support services from airport-based businesses called fixed-base operators (FBOs). Aviation fuel is typically an aircraft operator's single largest direct operating cost. In addition to selling fuel, FBOs provide a variety of services to aircraft such as maintenance, towing, hangaring, ground power, catering, cleaning, etc. FBOs also provide services and amenities to passengers and crew members such as waiting lounges, flight planning rooms, weather terminals, crew rest quarters, showers, automobile rentals, hotel reservations, etc.
Aircraft operators shop for fuel and services from FBOs through a time-consuming, inefficient, and uneconomical process. When planning flights, aircraft operators consult directories that list the FBOs located at their destination airports. The aircraft operator researches the ability of the available FBOs to provide the required fuel and services and their costs. This time-consuming process requires multiple telephone calls to the FBOs, manually compiling the information, then selecting an FBO based upon its capabilities and published retail prices. By simply comparing published retail prices, the aircraft operator is denied potential cost-savings that could be achieved through a more competitive solicitation and negotiation process. The existing method for procuring fuel and services from FBOs is cumbersome, inefficient, and costly in terms of both time and money. Aircraft operators could save considerable time and money if there was a single marketplace where they could easily solicit competitive quotes from multiple FBOs across a wide geographic range in a single-step process.
FBOs compete against each other for the business of aircraft operators. Depending upon individual market conditions, there can be as few as one or as many as several FBOs located at an airport. There are approximately 5200 public-use airports in the United States serviced by approximately 3100 FBOs, with over 225,000 GA aircraft currently registered in the U.S. FBOs compete with FBOs located at their particular airport and at other airports where aircraft operators could alternatively choose to buy fuel and services. FBOs promote their businesses through advertising, trade shows, and industry events and they aggressively seek the business of any aircraft that might visit their airport. Because of the transient nature of their customers, FBOs must direct their sales and marketing efforts to the entire fleet of GA aircraft. Targeting such a broad base of potential customers requires a shotgun approach to marketing that is expensive, inefficient, and results in poor advertising returns because FBOs can expect to capture only a very small percentage of the market. Also, many FBOs are small businesses and cannot afford such expensive marketing campaigns. FBOs could benefit in terms of advertising cost savings and increased revenue if they could narrow their sales efforts to aircraft operators that are pre-qualified and self-identified as potential customers planning visits to the FBO's airport or nearby airports.
The present method for the sale and procurement of aviation fuel and services is hampered by numerous wasteful inefficiencies. Both aircraft operators and FBOs can benefit greatly from a more efficient marketplace and system where the parties could streamline their sales and procurement efforts. Aircraft operators could enjoy the benefits of one-stop shopping with confidence they are obtaining the most competitive prices via the most efficient acquisition method. FBOs could enjoy the benefit of the efficient marketplace as an effective sales tool to precisely target prospective, pre-qualified customers.
It is an object of this invention to provide an auction based sales and procurement system for aviation fuel and services offered by geographically dispersed FBOs and sought by geographically dispersed aircraft operators, the system functioning over a global computer system.